Last Sacrifice
by Lissa Dragomir101
Summary: All I had to do was get out of this jail cell, find Lissa's half brother, find the queens true killer and get Victor Dashkov back in jail. So much to do, so little time. But can 4 tasks turn into one?
1. Chapter 1

I sat on the almost completely hard bed. It only had one slim mattress to cover its frame and the mattress did nothing. I sat there, not saying a word just staring at the metal bars that kept me here. I'd hardly spoken a word since I got here. I only spoke to Abe, and he wasn't much company. No one else was allowed to come and see the 'Queens murderer'. I was too dangerous. I'm not saying that that was a bad thing, or a good thing. I don't know what to think. It would have been nice to see Lissa, but feeling her pity, that wouldn't have helped my bad mood.

I was taken out of my reverie by the sound of footsteps echoing down the silent hall. One of my many guards stood there with a plate of what looked to be a two week old sandwich.

"Food, Hathaway," was all he said, placing the plastic plate down on the ground. Of course everything they gave me had to be on plastic- if anything- because that was the least dangerous object. If they gave me a glass plate then I could smash it and use it as a weapon. Well, that's what they thought anyway.

I walked to the bars and sat down just in front of my food. The sandwich was old and small but I didn't care, it was something. I shoved it down my mouth without really tasting it. That's how life in prison goes. You taste without tasting, look without actually looking. All I could do in this measly cell was feel emotion, but that didn't help. I didn't want to feel beaten- I hated that- I didn't want to feel depressed and dejected. I didn't want to feel anything. Especially not longing for a familiar face other than Abe's. At this point I would settle for anyone. Even Christian. But, no matter whom it was or what they did, only Abe could see me. He could pass on messages to the others, sure, but that wouldn't do much for me. The only way I could see them was through Lissa, which did very little to calm me. I rarely went into Lissa's mind because all her worrying about me didn't help at all.

I walked back up to the bed- if you could even call it a bed- and lay down. I tried to slide into Lissa but she was asleep. Just like I should have been, but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't do anything but feel my emotions all piled into one. They were all boggled up and I couldn't make much sense out of any of them except one. Surrender. If they wanted to kill me, they would. And I knew that sometime soon my trial would come and I wouldn't return here. Whether they decided to let me go or kill me. This stupid cell would be part of my past or my memory.

**Please review! Tell me what you think! Whether I should continue or not!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Please review and tell me what you think! It really would mean a lot!**

**Disclaimer: As much as I want to own Vampire Academy, I don't. *Tear***

I shouldn't be thinking about whether I would die or not. That this stupid cell would be one of the last things I would see. But, it was just circling in my mind. Everything I tried to think about to take my mind off of it somehow linked straight back to my death.

So, I went into Lissa's head. There was a knock at the door, she immediately awoke and walked straight to it to find Christian. He was fully dressed wearing his denim jeans and black top. Christian's deep blue eyes bore into Lissa's, I could see a hint of sadness in them. Was that for me? No, couldn't be!

Christian invited himself in and sat on Lissa's bed. He knew that Lissa was upset and knew exactly why. "Lissa, she's _Rose, _she'll be fine. We just have to focus on helping Abe find the real murderer." Christian was saying soothingly. Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. With all my moping around I forgot that a killer was still out there. And might be planning another attack.

"I know, but you don't know what it's like for me. Not knowing whether she's alright, not knowing how they're treating her in jail! It's just bad! I more than wish that this bond could work two ways!" Lissa cried. I felt a warm tear fall down her cheek.

Christian just looked at Lissa, he looked helpless. He truly didn't know what to do. He knew how desperately Lissa wanted to see me. But, I also saw a fire in his eye, one that said he was willing to do anything to help.

"Well," He paused, thinking about what he was going to say. And then I realised precisely what he wanted to say. _Oh, no! Don't say it!_ I thought to myself, _don't give her any ideas!_ "What about compulsion?" _Oh, come on! You just had to say it!_

Hope sparked up in Lissa, she immediately started envisioning her plan and she saw that it would work. She nodded solemnly. She desperately wanted to use it, despite it being wrong. Man, that so wasn't like Lissa. But, then again, who was the same? Ever since the queen was killed everything had changed. And...everyone.

I'd had enough. I didn't want to watch my best friend plan to use compulsion on the guards just to see me.

"Rose?" A soft voice spoke.

I shook my head clearing it and saw that Tomas was standing outside the bars of my cell. His curly brown hair almost in his eyes which looked worried.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" I replied standing up off of my bed.

"Well, I only called your name ten times with no reply. I was just about ready to open the door and call a doctor."

_Well, damn, there went my chance of escaping. _

"Can I..." he paused, thinking about how to best structure his words, "Can I give you a little advice?" He asked sitting down. I hadn't seen him the whole time I'd been in my cell, but he was a guardian so I understood why he'd be here.

I nodded, what could he give me advice on? I'm not saying that I know everything, but the only advice I wanted right now was how to break out of a prison cell, or how to stop your best friend using compulsion.

"You can't chose who you love Rose. I mean, look at me. I fell in love with a crazy Moroi who eventually turned Strigoi willingly." He said.

I nodded wondering where this was going. But Tomas just stood up and turned to leave.

"Oh, and Rose?" he said over his shoulder, "If there's one thing I've learned about love, it's that it _never_ fades." Tomas said this so passionately that it brought tears to my eyes.

"How did you...?" I started, but I didn't get to finish before Tomas interrupted me.

"You've been talking in your sleep. I don't know who loves you but their love can't have faded. Mine hasn't." With that, he left, heading up the many stairs that led to freedom.

I was trying to absorb Tomas' words. They were so sweet and so passionately spoken that I knew he truly believed it. But, then, the reason why he would have said this hit me. He wanted to give me peace of mind before I was executed. But, that didn't mean that Dimitri still loved me. He claimed that being a Strigoi had changed him. It had. He wasn't the same; I knew that what Dimitri said was true. Just the way he said it. Even though Dimitri's eyes were telling me otherwise. He said it, so it had to be true. No matter how painful, no matter how much I didn't want those words to be true...they were.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi, thanks to the people that reviewed and thanks to everyone who put me on author or story alert! Thanks so much to my friend natashasingh1996!**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own Vampire Academy, I don't. *Tear***

I lay my cheek carefully against the cold, rough, stone wall. Somehow, the wall seemed more comfortable than my so called 'bed'. Go figure. My head was spinning, and it seemed hotter in here than usual. Sweat was pouring down my face. But, I refused to mention anything. I was going to sit here and take what I got, and it just so happened to be really hot.

Footsteps echoed down the hall, and Tomas stood in front of my cell. Two guardians stood outside my cell wall; one on each side. He motioned for the one on my right to come over to him, and the guardian obeyed. Whatever he was saying to them, they appeared to not like it. They were vigorously shaking their heads. This seemed to annoy Tomas and he thumped each one on the head in turn. They fell to the floor, along with my mouth. _What the hell?_

Tomas leant down and searched through one of the guard's pockets and pulled out a set of keys, which he put into the key hole and opened my door. At first I thought he was freeing me, but the fire in his eyes said otherwise. I was still gaping at him. Wondering what he was doing.

He continued to come at me, with me doing nothing but stare. It wasn't until he had his hand around my throat that I realised his intention. But, by then it was a little late. With new found strength, Tomas threw me across the room. I hit the floor with a loud slap, my head smashing against the floor. My vision blurred and I was left stunned.

Tomas seemed stronger than any dhampir I had ever fought before. He had the same amount of strength that most Strigoi I'd fought had. This wasn't good. I slowly got to my feet and I felt along my neck and winced. That was going to leave a mark. I felt something warm trickled down the side of my face. It was blood.

Tomas was abruptly standing in front of me. I flinched away instinctively.

But, Tomas didn't touch me; he just said seriously, "Rose, your trial is coming up. And I want you to plead guilty."

I scowled at him that was what this is about? "What's it to you?"

"That's not important. It is imperative that you plead guilty. Or," I felt a threat coming on, "what happens to you now will happen to your loved ones." With that he punched me in the stomach and I felt and heard a snap. I doubled over in pain. I was lying on the floor when a black boot hit the centre of my face. Blood trickled down my cheek from my nose. I felt Tomas' boot come down and step on my right ankle and searing pain shot right up into my knee. I screamed in agony and annoyance. I felt so helpless, unable to get up.

"Why?" I questioned in a whisper, "I found a way for you to be with Mrs. Karp! I helped you!"

"I already have Sonya back! I snuck her into court." Tomas replied mischievously. Tomas lifted one hand up to his eyes and touched his eye ball. He slid his hand across and knelt down to my level. That's when I saw it. His pupils were red. He was a Strigoi. He'd been wearing contact lenses. That explained so much. But how long had he been a Strigoi? "You will do as I say, otherwise everyone you care about, everyone you know...will die. Starting with Lissa and ending with Guardian Belikov. But before I end his life, I'll let everyone know about your little love affair you had at the school." A smirk made its way across his face.

"How do you know about that?" I asked. I could hardly keep my brain focused, which suggested a concussion.

"I've been watching you Rose. Me...and others. I have friends Rose. Even if you manage to escape I will always find you. No matter where you go, no matter what you do. I'll be there to ruin your life."

So many people had said that to me. Well, something along those lines anyway.

"Will you comply?" Tomas asked.

"Yes," I said after some deliberation. "But, just tell me this. Who killed Tatiana?"

"Me," Tomas said immediately. He lifted his hand up to hit me on the head. And that's when I realised that when Tomas had been guarding me he wasn't supposed to be there. He's on filing duty for running away to kill Mrs. Karp. No way would anyone have trusted him with a high security prisoner.

Tomas swung his hand down hitting me on the head as hard as he could.

Just before I blacked out a picture of my one true love floated into my head. And I realised how much I longed for him to be here. How much I longed to see him, to talk to him. And how much I still loved him. My heart ache grew and grew until everything went black around me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Academy**

When I came to I was lying in an all white room. The only bit of colour was coming from a blurry figure sitting next to me, who had their hand in mine. I slowly twitched my fingers, assessing my injuries, none in that hand. I then tried my right, none there either. My eye site slowly improved. I realised that none other than Adrian Ivashkov was sitting next to. With a- no it can't be- serious look plastered on his face.

I went to sit up but pain in my chest stopped me.

"Rose?" Adrian spoke quietly.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, my voice quivering. I frowned to myself. Was I no longer a high security prisoner?

"After what had happened I had to come and see if you're okay." Adrian replied, and then as if reading my mind he said, "Yeah, you're still a prisoner." He carefully lifted my arm and I noticed silver handcuffs strapped around my arm and the edge of the bed.

"So, if I'm still high security why are you here?" Not that I wasn't grateful for seeing him but, it felt weird seeing things again without bars blocking part of my vision.

"Well, I begged and pleaded and ordered and they eventually let me see you." Adrian replied with a satisfied smile on his face.

"What about Lissa?"

Adrian's face fell a little. "Well, apparently her life is too important to risk in letting her see you. So, basically what I got from that was that her life is more valuable than mine. Which I don't get at all."

I let a smile creep through onto my face. Until I remembered what had happened, what Tomas had said. My face fell. Would Adrian be included in that threat? Of course.

"Rose, what happened? Who did this to you?" Adrian asked back to his serious mode.

"You mean he wasn't caught?" I accidentally let slip. Then corrected myself, "What's the story of how I got hurt?"

Adrian looked down at our still interlaced hands. He seemed hesitant to answer. I was preparing myself for the worst when Adrian finally answered, "There's rumours going around saying that you...did this to yourself, because you're guilty and didn't want to die by other people's hands."

Even though I had been preparing myself for the worst, I hadn't expected _quite_ that bad. There were people thinking I tried to kill myself because of guilt? Great, that really added the icing to the cake.

I remained silent. Unable to come up with a reply, for once in my life.

"If it's any consolation, we don't believe it. We just wish that we knew who did this to you." Adrian replied, trying to make me feel better. While also hinting that he wanted to know what happened. Ah, the always so subtle Adrian.

I appreciated the effort, but my mood was at an ultimate low. Not even seeing Dimitri could make me feel better. And that was saying something.

"How'd you find me?" I asked.

"Oh, I didn't find you. Belikov did. He was going down to see you because one of his friends was on guard duty and was letting him see you. That's when he found you unconscious and lying on the floor."

I grimaced. Just when Dimitri had decided to see me, I was unconscious, on the floor and bleeding. Great. Then another thought occurred to me. "How long have I been out?"

"Belikov found you yesterday." Adrian replied dryly. It was apparent that he didn't like the fact that Dimitri had been the one to find me and be my 'hero'.

But, Dimitri had come to see me! Me. A little spark of hope made its way to my heart.

"Rose," Adrian said hesitantly, "There's something I have to tell you." He paused, man, more bad news. Really? "You're trial, as decided by the court yesterday, is going to be today."

I stared at him, still trying to comprehend this new information. Tomas had said that my trial was soon, he'd failed to mention it would be today!

Adrian was soon forced to leave. This left me alone, in an all white room, thinking about nothing but what I was going to do at this trial. It was my life for my families. One life to save more than ten. I could do that. I would, but the only thing I didn't like was that my name would go down in the history books for a crime that I didn't commit, a crime that I didn't want pinned to my name.

It only felt like minutes between when Adrian left and when the guardians came to take me to my trial. They cuffed my hands in front of me and guardians stood on either side, strongly gripping my arms as if saying 'don't try anything'. I wasn't planning to, I could hardly walk on my ankle anyway. I was marched across the grounds; luckily no one was around to see how pathetic I looked. But, I knew, that as soon as I got to the court room there would be hundreds of bystanders watching the proceedings. And I knew my friends and my dad would be there. This was going to be interesting.

As we reached the tall, wooden doors that I had been in twice before I took a deep breath, telling myself to calm down. The doors opened silently and a slight hum of talk erupted as I entered. Some people looked impassive however most looked angry and ready to rip me limb from limb. How nice.

To my left I saw Tomas and directly in front of him my friends all sitting together almost taking up a whole row. Lissa, Christian, Adrian, Mia, Eddie, Tasha, and...Dimitri. Dimitri stared at me, no emotion coming through the tough guardian mask that he had perfected.

I deliberately turned away from them, hiding my face from Lissa. I didn't need to see her remorse, I could already feel it. I continued down the walkway, passing some crying figures. Something told me that they weren't crying for me, but that was just a hunch.

I walked up to where Abe was sitting. My cuffs were removed but a guardian was still standing next to me as if I was planning on making a run for it.

"Rose," Abe said, "It'll be fine. They don't have strong enough evidence against you." He whispered this comfortingly, however I knew that Abe didn't have any proof of another killer.

"Silence in the court." I loud voice boomed. I looked over to where the judge was sitting, her figure confident and physically powerful. "What does the defendant plead?"

"We plead not..." Abe started and everything seemed to go in slow motion from there.

I turned around to look at Tomas who had his contacts back in. He was staring at Lissa hungrily. That made my decision for me. "Guilty!" I answered, "I plead..." I looked at Tomas and his eyes said it all. "I plead guilty!" I said quietly.

"Could the defendant please repeat that?" The judge asked seeming not to have heard me answer.

I looked at Abe apologetically.

"Rose, what are you doing?" He hissed at me.

I turned but to the judge. "I plead guilty to the charges!" I yelled at the top of my voice.

Behind me I heard gasps and some cheers. But, through Lissa's eyes I saw my friends all gaping at the back of my head.

"Then the punishment is execution. This case is over." The judge boomed before I was surrounded by guardians again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed and everyone who put my story on their favourites or alert! It means a lot!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Academy**

My hands were cuffed in front of me again and I was all but thrown out of my seat. Tomas had a smug look on his face and I would have done anything to punch him. I walked down the aisle with the crowd cheering but some- my friends- had tears in their eyes.

I kept my eyes locked on Lissa's. Tears were streaming down her face and Christian had his arms around her. He had tears in eyes too. As I reached them I said, "Liss, I'm so sorry. I had to do this. I don't expect you to understand but, please just..." tears were running down my cheeks. Saying good bye to her was harder than I though. "Please just be happy."

"You can't do this! You can't just give up! You can't say good bye! You didn't do anything wrong!" Lissa whimpered.

I turned to Christian, "Take care of her, 'kay?"

He nodded solemnly. I didn't have much time so I couldn't give individual goodbyes to all my friends so I just whispered, "Good bye." to all of them.

Adrian looked shell shocked. I don't know whether he believed it or not, but from the look on his face. He didn't know what to believe.

The guardians shoved me through the tall, wooden doors and we headed...I don't know actually. Where ever they took people who were waiting to be killed.

Except, before we got outside the building a strong, Russian accented voice boomed. "STOP!" I paused, as did my guardians.

I turned to see Dimitri running after us. The guardians tried to stop him from reaching me but he just shoved them out of the way. I looked into his deep brown eyes and saw distress.

"Rose," he continued, "What are you doing? You and I both know that you're innocent."

"You, me and who else? I was going to be sentenced to death whether I pled guilty or not." I replied, trying not to show any emotion. I don't think it worked that well. "I have to do this; I have to separate myself from you." By the look in Dimitri's eyes I knew he thought I was referring back to when he was in prison, when he'd said, 'Love fades, mine has'. But I wasn't.

"Roza," Dimitri said, he sounded so...broken. "I love you! I. Love. _You_." He sounded defeated carefully emphasizing each word.

"I know." Was my reply, I looked down, I couldn't face him now. Fresh tears streamed down my face.

"I don't understand," he stated quietly.

"You don't have to understand any of this." I continued, "Just...know that I love you, and that I will always love you. No matter what happens to me from here." I couldn't bring myself to say that I would die. Voicing the words was different to thinking them.

The guardians- sensing that our conversation was over- stepped in and shoved me outside into the fresh air. The wind blew strongly, making me shiver.

I ended up being taken back to the cell I'd been in previously. I sat on my bed, feeling weak with emotion. It wasn't supposed to end. Not like this. But, there was no hole I could hide in. No masculine, gorgeous guy was willing to risk everything for me. This was it. My, not so, happy ending.

So, for old times' sake, I went into Lissa's head. She was in her room, sitting on her bed with Christians' arms around her. She sobbed into his shoulder making it wet. Her sorrow, her pain, her heart ache made me feel guilty for doing this to her. But, this was better than her being dead.

There was a loud knock on the door. Lissa didn't look up; she just took her face away from Christians shoulder and looked at the plain bedspread. So Christian got up and opened. That's when Dimitri stormed past him and walked straight to Lissa.

"I know where they keep prisoners waiting for execution." Dimitri said, hope streaking his voice.

That got Lissa's attention. She swung her head up to meet his wonderful brown eyes. "Where?" If she knew where I was then she could save me. And she knew that.

Dimitri took a deep breath and replied. "The prison. We have to get her out of there." From there they went on planning my escape. Great, just what I needed, my friends risking everything to save my life.

I threw myself out of Lissa's head. I had to stop them! But, how? I was locked in a freaking cell! Matters just keep getting worse and worse don't they? Although I was grateful that they wanted me safe, I'm not sure I wanted them risking getting caught and possibly getting put in jail themselves.

I continued to sit on my bed, pretending to be oblivious to the spark of hope inside Lissa.

Despite me trying to ignore their planning, every so often I would get put back into Lissa's mind and get glimpses of their plan. As far as I could tell Lissa was going to use compulsion on the guards up top, then Dimitri would storm down the steps and knock out the bottom guards, consequently rescuing me. I knew there was no way Dimitri would let Lissa get herself in more trouble than need be. That's why she wasn't using compulsion on the bottom guards. But, I didn't like that part of their plan. As soon as the bottom guards came to, they would be able to pin point Dimitri having rescued me.

Christian had a very little part in the plan. His part was to distract anyone who came near the cell until I was free.

With their plan all thought out they decided to put it into motion immediately. I could hear Lissa's voice echoing slightly down the hall. But that was only because I was listening for it. The guardians wouldn't have been able to hear it. A few minutes later Dimitri ran down the steps.

"Hey, you're not supposed to be down here!" One of the guardians yelled angrily but Dimitri- having surprise on his side- punched the guardian in the face and the guardian immediately fell to the floor unconscious. The other guardian was harder because he was expecting a fight. I hated watching a fight go down and not being able to help. Man, these bars were definitely a pain.

The guardian was managing to dodge all of Dimitri's attacks, and Dimitri his. So, I did the only thing I could. Distract. I jumped off of my bed and ran to the bars. I put my hand in between two and stretched as far as I could. I just managed to touch the guardian making him jump; giving Dimitri the perfect opening. He slammed his fist into the guardians' temple and the guardian fell to the floor. Dimitri reached into the unconscious guardians' pocket and grabbed a set of keys. Just like Tomas had done earlier. Dimitri unlocked the door and I ran to him and hugged him. I had never been so happy to see him in my life. He hugged me back tightly. As if saying 'I'll never let go'. I thought I didn't have a masculine, gorgeous guy willing to risk anything to save me. But, I'd forgotten about Dimitri.


	6. Authors note

**Sorry about that last chapter! I kind of had my mind on other things and clicked on the wrong one. I did change it! Now, it's the real chapter 6! Sorry!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Ok, I made a bet with my friend natashasingh1996 and whoever lost had to post it in their next chapter that they lost. So, hear it goes. I lost the bet! I know it's sad!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Academy!**

I pulled away from Dimitri hesitantly. And grabbed his hand and led him toward the exit. Lissa and Christian were waiting edgily for us. But, as soon as I saw Lissa I ran to her and hugged her. Even Christian pulled me into a hug.

"Whoa, don't get too carried away in the reunions." I told him, teasingly. Rose was back!

He just smiled at me seeming to realise the same thing.

"Rose, we have got to go! I know where we can find a car." Dimitri said and started heading toward the left. But I stopped him.

"We're not leaving yet." I stated. Dimitri gaped at me silently. "I'm not leaving the people I care about here while a killer is still out there." I explained. I probably shouldn't leave anyone here as long as Tomas was around but, as soon as he realised I had escaped he would come after me first.

Dimitri nodded, "Who do we start with?"

I thought about this for a minute thinking about the positioning of the rooms. "Abe, then Adrian, Eddie and Mia." Dimitri stiffened at the mention of Adrian but didn't let it bother him, too much.

They just followed behind me as I led them into the guest housing. Abe's room would be one of these. But, which one? I had no idea. So, I decided to get Lissa to knock on all of them. Of course I would have done it but I think people might freak out a bit if an accused murderer showed up on their doorstep.

After the 5th try Lissa found Abe, dressed in a business suite. I ran to the room and hastily explained the situation, leaving out the part about Abe being a Strigoi. "Come with us!" I urged him.

Abe shook his head. "No killer will be able to kill me, Rose. Don't worry I'll be leaving court now that you're free." That made me feel better.

"When?" I asked, realising the importance of this question.

"A.S.A.P." Abe replied, "Probably tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I exclaimed, "No, you don't understand! You have to leave today! Now!"

"Why the big hurry?" Abe asked his brows furrowing in confusion.

It was now or never to explain about Tomas. "Look, the reason I pled guilty at the trial was because I was threatened." Lissa gasped in shock, "I was threatened by Tomas- who's a Strigoi- he said that he'll come after my friends and family. Abe, if you don't leave today you'll die." I was amazed at how much the thought of losing him hurt.

Abe nodded slowly. "Alright, I'll leave today." I smiled at him and surprisingly sprung forward and hugged him.

Next was Adrian's room. Lissa knew where that was. We opened the door to find Adrian in boxer shorts. "Only you would sleep in the middle of the day." I commented.

Once everything was explained to Adrian he agreed to come with us and meet us at one of the cars in the garage.

We got Eddie to come along too, let's just say I can be very persuasive when I want to be.

But Mia refused to come. She knew that her dad would never leave court and she wasn't going to leave him alone. "I can't leave my dad; he's the only family I have left." She'd said. Cautiously I let her stay. And then we were off, we sprinted to a black Sudan that was parked in the first garage to find Adrian already there with a suitcase of stuff. That's when I realised that none of the rest of us had clothes.

But Adrian had beaten me to it, "I brought all of my money. We can by essentials later."

And then we had the hard task of getting past the courts gate guardians. That was going to be the toughest objective yet.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry that it took me so long to write this chapter! I've been so busy! But, anyway please review and tell me what you think! Pretty please! **

Getting past the guardians proved harder than we thought. However, we managed to escape thanks to Lissa's compulsion.

We were now speeding down a road with me hidden away in the big, dark, unfortunately smelly boot. Dimitri was a first apprehensive about the idea of me hiding in the boot however, after much persuasion on my part- he complied but only with a compromise; we would stop regularly and if I displayed any symptoms of lack of oxygen he would take my place. He also made me promise if I felt dizzy or hurt I would say so. I hated the idea of stopping every so often, and I was just about to argue when Lissa whispered in my head to leave it alone. So, I hesitantly complied.

So, that's when I realised that Dimitri still loved me. He was willing to take my place in this boot when he would be completely cramped in.

I smiled but was interrupted by a jolt of the car. My head slammed against the top of the boot and then hit the bottom with a bang. I groaned in pain unable to stop myself.

"Sorry, Rose," I heard Arian call from the front seat.

"Stop the car." Dimitri snarled.

Adrian carefully pulled over and I heard Dimitri swing his door open and unlocked the boot. I was met with a bright sun that was partially blocked out of my eyes by the tall, handsome frame of Dimitri.

I sat up and lifted my hand to my head and found it wet and sticky. Blood. Great, Dimitri wasn't going to like this.

"Rose, we're swapping. Now." He said easily lifting me from the boot. I tried to fight him but my attempts were useless.

"But," I argued, "what if we run into Moroi or dhampirs?"

Dimitri scowled at me, "Yeah, because Dhampirs would be scanning the roads like humans."

He set me down in the back where he was sitting, which was right next to Eddie. "Dimitri, I'm fine, you'll be cramped in the boot!" I continued to protest.

There was a pause as Dimitri just looked into my eyes and I in his. I saw worry, love, compassion. Everything I used to see in those brown, gorgeous eyes.

"I'll go," Eddie suggested shoving past me out the door. I don't know how he managed but he did. He was in the boot with is closed before me or Dimitri could say anything. So, I slid across the seat sitting in between Dimitri and Christian.

As Dimitri sat next to me he pulled a bit of cloth out of his pocket and held it to the corner of my face. It made me wince at first, but I got used to the feeling of material against my head.

We were driving for days to reach Los Vegas. When we finally arrived it was dark but you could hardly tell due to the numerous bright lights scattered around the place. Adrian pulled up at the first hotel we saw and managed to buy a room. This meant we were all sharing one room with only two double beds. That should be interesting, but I was completely ready to fight to the death for one of them.

However, there were more pressing issues. I felt the need to talk to Dimitri.

"Comrade, can I talk to you?" I asked; I waited for him to nod before taking him outside and standing on the street.

He waited for me to start.

So, I did. "Whatever happened to 'Love fades, mine has'?" I quoted.

"I lied." Dimitri said simply.

"Why would you say it?" I asked, my brows furrowing in confusion.

"To protect you." Dimitri said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Yet, to me, it wasn't; I had no idea what he was talking about.

"Protect me from what?" I almost yelled back. My anger was almost at its peak, I was so confused and so angry that he thought I needed protection that I just had to have answers.

"ME! I thought I was dangerous. Still...bad. Every time I look at you I'm reminded of how I felt when I saw you when I was a Strigoi. I didn't take you seriously, I thought of you as a possession. Not the love of my life." Dimitri admitted, and then he added more quietly, "You can't imagine the guilt I feel." His eyes were trained on the floor.

I was still trying to process everything he'd said to me when I realised what he'd just told me. "Wait, did you just say _thought_?" I added with a bit of hope.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi, here's another chapter. Please review! It means so much to me!**

That was an improvement. He no longer thought of himself as evil. Or he didn't think himself _as_ evil as he did before. Whatever the answer it was still an improvement. As I walked back into the hotel room, I found the group all couped up sitting on the bed. All was silent as they watched the TV.

I took a few calming deep breathes as I reached for the remote and turned off the TV. Four pairs of eyes glanced at me curiously. Dimitri was now also in the room.

"Guys," I said, reaching my hand to the back of my jeans pocket. "There's something I need to tell you. All of you." I paused, trying to phrase my words appropriately. "We didn't escape from court for my freedom or your safety. Not that that wasn't also on my priority list. We...have something important to do. Someone important to find." I took a small, folded piece of paper out of my pocket and handed it to Lissa to read first. While she was reading it I continued explaining. "The Queen gave this to a friend of mine to give to me if something went wrong. I have no idea whether this letter is legitimate or not, however I'm willing to find out." Through the bond I felt Lissa's emotions; sadness and confusion even a bit of hope. She passed it along to Christian who was next to her and eventually everyone had read it. They were all silent, it was an awkward silence and I grimaced as Dimitri handed me back the note having read through it twice.

Dimitri stepped towards me and wrapped an arm around my waist. It was comforting; in both the closeness and that he was no longer hiding our relationship, if that's what we had. Man, I still have a lot of things to sort out.

"So," Adrian said, "Let me guess, we're going to try to find this half brother or sister?"

I glared at him and replied, "You don't have to if you don't want to." I said through my teeth.

"Oh, no, I want to, I just wanted to make sure that I understood the situation." Adrian replied with his usual tact.

I sighed, "We need to start at the bar, where we met the manager who knew so much about Lissa's dad. I have a feeling that he has something to do with all this." I paused for a second thinking, "He knew so much about Lissa's dad that he could be the one that broke into the alchemist office and stole those documents." I said more to myself then to anyone else.

"Whoa, Rose back up." Christian said, "Alchemists? What have they got anything to do with this?"

Oh, crap, in my little explanation I left out that small little detail of the alchemist break in. "Well, a few weeks ago, someone broke into an alchemist office and stole documents on Lissa's dad." I explained sheepishly.

"Why would someone want information on my dad?" Lissa whispered sadly.

I walked over and sat next to her. "I don't know, Liss. But, we're going to find out. And we'll find your missing family member. I promise." But, it was a half hearted promise. I had no way of knowing whether or not Lissa had family, or if they were still alive, or if they could be found. That was too many 'ifs'.

I stifled a yawn as I hugged Lissa. It felt good being so close to human life without bars separating us.

"So," Eddie said speaking for the first time, "How do we find this guy in the bar?"

"We just show up and pray that he's there. But, he's the manager, he's got to be easy to find." I replied, it wasn't much of a plan, but it was a start.

"And if not?" Adrian asked.

"We'll deal with that later." I replied flicking him off. I finally let go of Lissa and looked into her jade green eyes. She looked sad, yet happy. Typical Lissa emotion.

We decided to get some sleep and wait for the next night to go manager stalking. I slept on the floor along with Dimitri and Eddie. We let Lissa and Christian have the bed and Adrian have the couch. I lay next to Dimitri, my hand in his. It took me hours to fall asleep and when I did Adrian pulled me into one of his dreams.

We were in the hotel room but no one else was around. I was still wearing my jeans and t-shirt. "You know," I started, looking at Adrian, "if you wanted to talk to me, all you had to do was ask. There's no need for these dream things."

"I wanted to talk to you in private, Little Dhampir." Adrian stated. He walked up to me and placed his hand on my cheek. I knocked it off. Adrian had a pained expression on his face.

"Adrain..." I began, how was I supposed to phrase this right? How was I supposed to tell him that I no longer cared for him in that way? That I thought of him as a brother, not a partner? It would hurt him, but pretending like we had something we didn't would not only hurt him but Dimitri too.

Adrian cut me off before I could continue, "I get it Rose, you chose him, and he's always been the one you loved. I was just the backup, the rebound guy. The original's back now, you don't need me." Adrian looked to floor, tenderness written all over his face.

"Adrian, I still care about you. Just, not in the way I did." I stated; this was going to be hard.

"Rose, don't kid yourself. You never felt as strongly about me as you did him. It's always been him. But, the only difference before was that you thought you couldn't get him back. You thought that he was gone and that you needed to move on. Like I said, 'it's always been him'."

I sighed loudly, he was right. And now, him putting it into words, it made me feel guilty. I had hurt him, I didn't mean to but I had. Just like the Ivashkov's all thought, we were never going to stay together.

"Rose, you promised to give me a chance. You did. I didn't make the cut." He said pulling out a packet of cigarettes and staring longingly at them. With that, Adrian let me sleep peacefully without further interruption.

Adrian was a great guy; he just wasn't _my _great guy. He was someone else's; someone out there was perfectly suited to him. One day he would find that perfect girl and love them. One day he would get over me, get over the heart ache I put him through. I hope.

**Don't worry Adrian fans. There's still hope for Adrian. Just in a different way. Please review and tell me what you think!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hi, sorry that I've been taking so long to write! I've had exams all week! But, my exams are over! YAY! Anyway, here it is! Please tell me what you think!**

We were all ready to go back to the Witching Hour. No one was sure what to expect but the casino being empty certainly wasn't something we could have ever guessed at. As we walked in through the front doors expecting to see crowds of people, we realised it was empty; not one sound came from any section of the casino. Our footsteps echoed on the wooden dance floor as we made our way to the bar situated at the back of the room.

One moroi man sat at the with a beer glass in his hand. His form was slouched over and he seemed to either be sleeping or too drunk to realise that we had entered. As we got closer I realised that the moroi was none other than the manager. Well, this made our job a whole lot easier!

I cleared my throat and stood right behind him. The man turned, and his eyes were lazy. He was drunk, so much for life being easier. His hair was mangled and his eyes had huge bags under them.

"Hey," he slurred, "I remember you!"

Lissa spoke first, "What happened to all the customers?" she asked gesturing around her.

"Simple, ever since the Queen's murder, no one's been game enough to go outside!" He laughed, "And now they're saying the murderer was broken out of jail by an ex-strigoi!" He continued to laugh.

_That's so not good! It's already out that I escaped and that I was helped by Dimitri! They could take me, but no way was I letting Dimitri get tangled up in this! _

"Listen," I said through my teeth, "we need your help with something."

"I'll help you," he replied, leaning in close to my ear, "If you give me a little something in return." He smirked and kissed my cheek.

That's when Dimitri interfered; he snarled and grabbed the man by his shirt collar. "We're not here to play games!"

The manager looked terrified and nodded solemnly. "What is it you want?" He asked quietly.

"When we were here last...you knew a lot about Li-Eric Dragomir. How?" I questioned. I had a feeling this was going to take a while.

"What did you know about my dad?" Lissa asked angrily. _Oops, another thing I forgot to mention! I'm going to hear about this later._

The man ignored Lissa's outburst and shrugged, "How does everyone else find out about the latest gossip?" He questioned rhetorically.

I paused thinking about this for a moment. _We were in L.A. we met him and when we got home. What happened? I found out something! What? _That's when it all came crashing into my head. "But, it's more than that." I started, "When we got home, I got a phone call from a friend about a break in at the alchemist office here. It was around the time we met you. You knew so much about Lissa's dad that it was hard to believe that it was general knowledge, even if you are the manager here." I paused again, "IT WAS YOU! You were the one who broke into the alchemist office and stole the files on Lissa's dad! But...why?" My brain was hurting; I couldn't remember the last time I had thought so hard about one topic.

"Stolen files on my dad? Alchemist office? Friend? Rose, what the hell is going on?" Lissa snarled I felt her anger boiling up. _Damn it! I really need to start remembering to fill people in! _

"Can I explain later?" I asked quietly anxiously awaiting the manager's reply. He seemed to have sobered up a lot. This was really strange.

The manager attempted a laugh; however it was humourless and came out more like a snort. "What's it to you?" He bared his teeth in a smirk.

"Need I remind you that we have the upper hand?" Eddie inputted, gesturing towards Dimitri's hand that was still entwined in the man's shirt.

The man leant forward and rumbled, "You can do what you want to me, but it will still be 100 times better than what _they _will do if I tell."

My brows furrowed in confusion, who? That seemed to be the question I was asking all the time now. Who would need information on Lissa's father? Who would threaten this man? Who would turn Tomas? How did they get to him? So many questions filling my head, all of this seemed surreal.

"Who?" Christian asked taking the words straight out of my mouth.

"Oh, I don't know! Only the one everyone's afraid of." He paused, as if thinking whether or not he should tell us something, "Go back to the start. The answers lie in Vladimir's history." The man riddled. _Well that helped. NOT!_

"St Vladimir?" Christian asked again, we were all puzzled. What has he got to do with all of this?

"What do you mean? He's dead!" I yelled angrily.

"Many things are supposed to be dead. But, are they really? The dead can come back again. The un-dead work what has returned from the shadow land." The man whispered, as if he was afraid someone would hear him.

We were all stunned into silence. What the hell? The _dead can come back again_. _The un-dead work for what has returned from the shadow land. _Ok...the un-dead has to be Strigoi doesn't it? And the shadow land..That's where some ghosts are trapped. It's the world between reality and death. That's where all the ghosts come from that I can see. They can freely travel from the shadow land to reality but not everyone can see them. They're stuck as they are. They can't cross over. Or they don't want to?

"And that is where we stop things!" A voice grumbled from the shadows. "You, old man, have said way too much." A figure came out from the shadows and the first thing I saw were the pupils rimmed with read.


	11. Chapter 11

**Here is another chapter. It's a bit short, sorry but I didn't really know how to write fight scenes. If you have any tips feel free to tell me. So, here it is. Please review!**

We were all frozen in place. This was who was threatening the manager. That's why he was too afraid to tell us anything. They had been here this whole time and I hadn't even noticed. _Good job, Rose._

Eddie, Dimitri and I stepped in between the Strigoi and the moroi after a moments stunned silence.

If we were lucky it would only be the one Strigoi here, but our luck had expired as 9 others stepped out of the shadows flanking the original.

Dimitri handed me a stake and we lunged toward the Strigoi, Eddie staying behind to guard the moroi. That meant 5 each.

I managed to stake one immediately, but the others were harder, each throwing random punches. The Strigoi were working together well, not waiting for me to recover before throwing more punches. I definitely would have died by now if it wasn't for Christian and his fire. He was lighting two Strigoi at a time; one for me and one for Dimitri.

We were able to dispose of the Strigoi after a bit of time. However, both I and Dimitri suffered some injuries. He'd been slammed against a wall and the back of his head was bleeding. I'd been thrown to the ground and had my wrist stepped on with a loud snap echoing through the casino.

Dimitri held a towel to the back of his head and I was supporting my arm.

"Thanks Christian," I said, as Lissa ran to me. She gently put her hand around my arm, but even this little amount of pressure made me flinch. The pain disappeared quickly.

Lissa then moved on to Dimitri.

I walked over to Adrian; he was staring off into space. "Hey, are you ok?" I asked quietly.

"Something's not right." He replied softly. His eyes focused on mine and I saw fear...almost.

"What?"

He sighed loudly and whispered into my ear, "I wish I knew."

I nodded my head wordlessly.

I rapidly felt dizzy, my eyes clouded over. All I could see was...blackness. I could still feel Adrian around me, I felt arms holding me up; I even heard voices calling my name. But, it was like my body was immobilised. I was literally unable to respond, even moving a finger would take up too much energy. So, I just stopped trying, I let myself be engulfed by blackness. That's when a figure appeared. She was pale white and her chocolate brown hair hung in curls around her shoulders. She looked young but the clothes she was wearing seemed to come from another time. I recognised her, but I couldn't put a name to the all too familiar face. I'd seen this woman somewhere, but where?

"Sorry, about this, Rosemarie." The women spoke, her voice held sincerity but also authority.

"Wh-who are you?" I asked quietly.

"You really don't recognise me, Rosemarie? After all the studying you did about me and my partner a few years back?" She countered.

Ok, so I have seen her before in history books. Studying? Partner? Who was this woman?

"Alright, clearly that's not working." The women replied irately. "Listen; go into the far back room of this casino. There you will find someone, someone who will help you find answers."

I nodded mutely, the women started to disappear. That's when I realised where I knew her from. Her name clicked inside my head. "Anna? Shadow kissed Anna?"

This time it was the women's turn to nod mutely. Wow, this day just keeps getting weirder and weirder. But, what has she got to do with any of this?


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi, another chapter up! Hope you like and please review! It's a little short but I'm already working on the next chapter.**

I slowly opened my eyes; I was surrounded by worried expressions.

"Roza," Dimitri sighed, he placed his hand on the side of my cheek. That's when I realised I was on the ground.

I sat up quickly, despite my friends protests. I looked around to see the manager of the casino standing in the background looking at me. I stood and Dimitri put a hand around my waist for support.

"I'm fine," I promised, however none of them looked convinced. I sighed and walked towards the manager. "What's in the far back room here?" I asked icily.

"Nothing, um, nothing. Why?" He asked way too shakily to be true.

"You see, when you say it like that, it just makes it easier to determine that as a lie." I replied, walking forward. "Now, what is in the back room?" I repeated. If he made me say it again he wasn't going to still be in one piece.

The manager still didn't answer.

As much as I hated him right now, I didn't think it would help my case if I murdered a seemingly harmless moroi. So, I decided to see for myself. But, before I got too far my friends stopped me.

"Rose, what's going on?" Adrian questioned confused.

"Can I explain later?"

"No, you have a lot of explaining to do. So, start now." Eddie demanded.

I scowled at him; at all of them.

I took a deep breath before answering quickly, "A few weeks ago an anonymous person- well I guess he's no longer anonymous- broke into an alchemist office here. Before you ask how I know I'll tell you. I was suspected by a friend because of my connections with you, Liss." All of them stood listening intently. So I continued, "So, we just found out that he" I nodded my head towards the manager, "stole those files on Eric Dragomir containing personal information about him and now he's hiding something here, that I need to find."

"How do you know that there's something here to find?" Lissa asked.

"You know how I, ah, used to see ghosts?" I asked rhetorically, they nodded. "Well, I kind of saw Shadow Kissed Anna's ghost when I blacked out. I don't know how but this is all connected. Tomas, the manager, Tatiana's murder, Anna, Strigoi showing up everywhere. It's part of something bigger." This was the first time that I'd voiced my theory and it felt weird. I was so used to keeping my worries to myself that I now felt a huge amount of relief wash through me. "Can I go now?"

"NO!" The manager yelled, "If you value your life you won't interfere."

"Are you threatening her?" Dimitri spat through his teeth.

The manager visibly shrunk back, "Not me, but you don't want to get on 'his' bad side."

"What aren't you telling us?" Christian asked; he had fire literally spurting out of his finger tips.

"I thought you would have realised by now that I'm not going to tell you anything." He replied his old cocky self returning.

"So, you're banding against your own species to join the wrong side?" I asked dumb founded.

"The winning side." The manager corrected.

I just frowned. The winning side? Since when were Strigoi ever going to win against us. We had just proven what guardians can do against Strigoi. But, the only time I'd seen guardians struggle was just before Dimitri was turned. I shuddered at the memory but I had to dig deep into my mind. The attack on the school had shown what Strigoi could do when they worked together. And humans were already working for them, so, was it possible that moroi and dhampirs were working with them too? I'd say it's possible, but not probable. The Strigoi only started joining together last year. So, what changed?

As I was thinking I was heading to where I thought the back room would be. I went around to the little corner that held the bathrooms and instead of turning left at the toilet sign I turned right. I found a hallway that held one door at the very end. I headed towards it with my friends on my heels. Our footsteps were echoing through the corridor.

As we reached the door, it was locked. However this is when having a really strong- not to mention hot- boyfriend comes in handy. He slammed his shoulder against the door and it broke open first try. But, what I saw inside was a real shock. I was definitely not expecting to see her.

It was a complete replica of Lissa, the jade green eyes, the blonde hair. Despite the blood that covered her body you could easily tell that it was Lissa's half sister. Whatever her name was. But, why on earth was she here? This just gets more and more confusing.


	13. Chapter 13

**Thanks to everyone who's reading this story! I know the chapter are short and it takes me forever to update, but here is another chapter. I'm trying to update as fast as I can. Thanks to Rose Hathaway101 and natashasingh1996. **

Despite the blood I could see a slight rise and fall of her chest.

Lissa ran forward and placed her hands on each of the girl's arms. I felt an extensive amount of power surge through Lissa trying to heal her half sister. Poor 'whatever her name was'. I didn't know how long she had been there but she was definitely treated rough.

Lissa healed the girl and her eyes fluttered open. She looked at each of us and then stayed on Lissa.

"Please," the young girl whispered, "don't hurt me." Tears formed in her eyes and in that moment she looked no older than 12.

"We won't, we're here to help you." Lissa replied softly. They looked so much alike it was freaky.

Why would the Strigoi need Lissa's half sister? Did they accidently mistake her for Lissa? Not likely, so why? So many questions so little answers.

"How do I know?" the girl asked still unsure.

"Because we're breaking you out of here." I responded, not _as_ softly as Lissa but still calm.

She nodded her head and accepted Lissa's help up. They slowly made their way towards us. I led the way out trying to find the manager but he was nowhere in sight.

We back-tracked our steps back to the main entrance and left without further problems.

We took a cab back to our hotel and conspicuously made our way to our room. Four teenagers, one covered in blood, and two men in their early to mid twenties look very weird shuffling their way to one room. Other guests gave us strange looks and stopped what they were doing just to stare after us.

It was a relief to finally reach the small, cramped room. Lissa's half sister sat on the bad and we surrounded her.

"Not that I'm not grateful that you got me out of there- I am- but, can I _please_ go home?" she said, not sure where to look, so she said that to the ground.

"Just a minute," Lissa said politely. This was my chance to finally get some answers; to finally put some pieces together. But, where to start?

"Who's your father?" I questioned bluntly. I wasn't known for being subtle.

Lissa shot me a vicious glare. "Don't you think we should start somewhere that doesn't make this conversation like an interrogation? Like, 'what's your name?'"

"Kayla," the girl responded immediately to Lissa.

Lissa smiled politely to Kayla and nodded her head. "My name's Vasilisa, and this is..." and so Lissa went on pointing to everyone and saying their names. Lissa also asked Kayla's age. She was 13.

I waited impatiently to ask more questions. But I knew that we had to make Kayla feel like we weren't a threat. As soon as Lissa had finished though I butted in, "So, who's your father?" I repeated, ignoring the glares from Lissa.

She didn't answer just turned to Lissa and asked, "So, you're Vasilisa Dragomir?"

My fury was building up. She still didn't answer my question! Ah!

Lissa nodded her head, "Yeah, why?"

Kayla nodded her head too, "I just wanted to know who my half sister was."

That didn't seem to surprise anyone but Lissa. Why? I had no idea. She didn't want to believe that Kayla was her half sister. She just couldn't believe it. I felt Lissa's shock and I knew what she was going to do before she did it. She left the room, and went into the bathroom; leaving Kayla alone and...afraid.

With Lissa gone this opened up new opportunities to question Kayla. "Why did they want you?" I asked once again bluntly.

Kayla shook her head, looking away from the door that Lissa went through. She looked at me, and I felt like it was Lissa looking back at me, except it was Lissa at 13 years old. "I don't know. But, they kept making me put spirit into silver rings. Spirit is..."

Before Kayla could go into explaining what spirit was Christian cut her off. "You're a spirit user too?"

My mouth dropped open.

Kayla nodded her head again, "What do you mean by 'too'?" She questioned.

"Lissa's one," Christian replied, he looked just as shocked as I felt.

"Why would they need spirit induced rings?" Eddie thought aloud. I looked to him; he hadn't spoken in so long I forgot he was there. But, he was doing what Dimitri was doing, keeping an eye on our surrounding area, just like all guardians did. Despite all this drama they were still doing their duty. This made me feel bad. I should have been doing it too.

"I don't know, they wouldn't tell me. But, I overheard some Strigoi talking while I was pretending to be asleep. They said something about an attack on the Royal Court."


	14. Chapter 14: Authors note 2

**Hi! I'm sorry it's taking me forever to update! I'm having a bit of a writer's block! I'm writing it now, but it's taking a while! **

**While you're waiting I have posted a new story called 'Gone and never coming back'. Please check it out. Here's the summary but, reviews really do help me write! So much! If you guys are authors than you know! But, yeah here's the summary!**

**Summary-**

_**After evidence is found linking a notorious gang- the Strigoi- to a series of killings, the leader of the Strigoi is bent of destroying all evidence. By killing the only people who can identify the Strigoi- Abe Mazur and his wife Janine Hathaway leaders of an opposing gang, the Moroi- their identities are safe. However what the Strigoi don't know is that they left behind the daughter to the couple, Rose Hathaway- Mazur, and she witnessed the whole murder and who the killers were. The rest of the Moroi are bent on protecting Rose from a fate worse than death if the Strigoi get a hold of her. By doing so they put a young agent on Rose to protect her at all times- Dimitri Belikov- who will be acting as her brother for the sake of Roses protection. However, does Rose have feelings towards her new protector? And when there is said to be a spy inside the Moroi gang who is it? Rose has to move countries and change her name for survival; all she has to do is survive a few months until the trial. But, can Rose live that long without the Strigoi finding her? And, by moving, has Rose endangered all her new friends too? Rose is the key to taking down the Strigoi, but if the Strigoi get to her before the trial then all efforts to take down the gang will be wasted. All human.**_

**Please read and tell me what you think! And I'm writing the next chapter for Last Sacrifice now! Once again sorry that it's taking so long!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hi readers, if I still have some. Sorry that it's taken me forever to update! You might know that I had writers block! But, now I'm back! I hope you like it and again sorry for the long wait! Please Review!**

**Disclaimer- I don't own Vampire Academy.**

Now that shocked me: an attack on the Royal Court. Did they mean the attack on the queen or that there would be another one? Ok, this is starting to scare me.

Lissa came back into the room and that's when I realised that I had no idea what Lissa had been feeling while in the bathroom and I still didn't know. This scared me further. Lissa can now block her thoughts either intentionally or not. But, either way, she couldn't do it before.

I breathed in a big breath and carefully let it out. Everything seemed to be happening, and I was getting a big headache from all the questions forming in my mind. I tried to make sense of all of it but when I did all I managed to figure out was how much I _didn't _know.

So much of this was connected but what I couldn't work out was the how part.

"Alright," I said, my head reeling, "I think, that...um, well, we should go back to court."

Everyone in the room turned to stare at me, their faces shocked.

I sighed, "Well, we need to assume that the Strigoi mean that there's going to be another attack on the court! We can't just let them attack!" I stated.

"Rose, if we go back, then you'll be put back in jail." Eddie said, I smiled at him. He was always so kind and caring. He had been Mason's best friend, and now he was a really close friend of mine.

"I know, and I also know that by going back I'll probably be killed...but, I can't just stand back and let the Strigoi attack the Royal Court." I said in a whisper.

"Then, we go back and you stay away." Lissa suggested. She had changed so much over the years, become more confident. She was my best friend and my sister at the same time. The cautious one who didn't seem to cautious now. I was a bad influence.

I shook my head, "No, they'll know that you know where I am. It wouldn't work."

Kayla had stayed quiet, she was probably confused. But she didn't ask questions, she realised that now wasn't the time to talk.

I looked to Christian, he wasn't looking at me, he was looking at the floor. However, his stance was a little hunched over, suggesting he also didn't like my plan. We'd never gotten along well really, we were too much alike, but I was glad Lissa had him. Without him, so many things would have gone bad.

I gazed at Adrian, the alcoholic gone good. My, I guess, ex-boyfriend, but he was more than that. He was a close friend. I trusted him, although in the beginning he was annoying, he'd grown on me. Not that I would ever admit that to him.

I glanced over at Dimitri; he was staring at me intently. I could hardly meet his warm brown eyes, because they were worried; worried for me. I tried to show him how much this needed to be done, by looking into his eyes. But, he didn't like it. No one did.

All of them meant something to me, and I would miss each and every one of them. But, this was something I had to do, and they knew that. Once I put my mind on something there was no changing it. Nothing could change my mind now. Nothing. I was going back to the Royal Court hopefully to warn them, but they might not listen. However, there was no harm in trying. The one thing that I didn't want to happen though was for my friends to return with me or at all. If the Strigoi did attack I didn't want them with me. I didn't want them anywhere near the Royal Court, should something happen.

As I looked at each of them, I knew that I being gone would hurt them, but I had to go back.

There were two loud blows on the door. And it swung open, despite once being locked.

Men stormed through the door, some I recognised but some were strangers to me. All, however, were wearing black and white out fits, with an addition. A red mark on their collars, these men were from the Royal Court. They surrounded us, all of us.

"Rosemarie Hathaway, you are under arrest for the Queens murder." Said one who had stepped forward. He had a deep, masculine voice that boomed through the now silent room. He then looked at my friends, "The rest of you are charged with helping said murderer escape." He was even talking to young, innocent Kayla. What had I done now?


	16. Chapter 16

**Hi! Here is another chapter; it took a little longer than I hoped because it was really hard to write. I hope it makes sense because you get answers in this one! But, if it doesn't feel free to ask questions! I would like to thank: Destinee Rose Belikov, stephmoser, Twlighternproud, and victoriaK9898! Thanks for reviewing my last chapter! Like I said, I hope it makes sense!**

Now, I was back in my stupid cell, with my friends on either side of me. It was one thing to put me in here, but putting them in a cell was just cruel. It was horrible, terrible, annoying, I could write a whole list of adjectives to describe this awful situation. Yep, I was alone in this stupid prison cell, with my friends sharing cells next to me. I was awaiting my death, my friends were awaiting trial, and this _couldn't_ be any worse.

Christian, Lissa and Adrian were sharing a cell to my left while Dimitri and Eddie were sharing the cell to my right. I was alone, a murderer who couldn't be trusted in a cell with anyone, even her friends. They had company; they had someone to talk to. Yeah, I could talk to them if I wanted to, but I would get told to shut up straight away.

This was as bad as dying alone. The last thing I would see would be these walls, and then the guardians who wanted me dead. Because, by running away, I disposed of any doubts left in the minds of people that I was the killer. I had tried to run away to be 'free', as they said.

I could hear my friends whispering among themselves, I didn't know what they were saying it was just whispers. But, never in my entire life, had I felt so lonely.

I decided to close my eyes- despite being on the ground- and try to sleep. I couldn't muster enough energy to get up off the ground. So, I crawled into a little ball and fell asleep. However, it wasn't peaceful. As my dream opened up around me I half expected Adrian to turn up, but he didn't instead, Anna did.

"Rose, you have to get out of that prison!" She said swiftly.

"You're back again. With more riddles this time I suppose." I countered raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms over my chest.

"There's no time! I have to tell you the truth."

"If you could tell me the truth all along, then why didn't you just tell me to start with?" I questioned, irritated. That would have saved a whole lot of time.

"I can't tell you without the one I'm bound to finding out. I wanted to give you a chance of finding out the truth without him knowing. But, that didn't exactly work out." Anna replied.

"Why does it matter if St Vladimir finds out? He's dead, it's not like he's going to return from the dead and kill me or something." I meant it as a joke, however the way Anna looked at me displayed the seriousness of what she meant.

"Rose, listen to me! It's all linked like you thought it was; me, Tatiana's murder, Victor Dashkov, Strigoi showing up everywhere, the manager of that bar, Kayla. All of it is linked to one man. One man believed to be good but turned evil. St Vladimir is back, Rose. He's behind all the Strigoi coming together, he's the one who started the Strigoi using humans to get past the wards, he's the one that told Nathan to turn your lover, Dimitri, into a Strigoi." Anna told me rapidly.

"Why? Why would he need to do all that? He's a Saint! And how the hell did he come back?" I inquired, incredulously.

"It's complicated. But, basically, he never died. He was turned into a Strigoi years ago, and has remained one. Long story short, he's the one that banded the Strigoi together." I frowned at that as Anna continued, "Everything that's happened so far is linked to him and is helping him gain what he wants. Total control. Yes, he's a famous Saint to Moroi and Dhampir but that was never enough power for him. Now, he wants more."

"Wait, if he's behind all of this how did he get Victor Dashkov to work for him? Victor's all about saving the Moroi race. Right?" I asked this couldn't get more confusing.

"Well, that's what he thinks he's doing by helping. He thinks he's saving everyone by putting Vladimir in to power. But, that's going to ruin everything. Vladimir needed Tatiana out of the way, so got Sonya Karp to turn a guardian into a Strigoi to do his dirty work. Then he got one of his Strigoi minions to steal the files on Eric Dragomir to find his other daughter. He knew that Lissa would be too well protected, so he couldn't get her. But, it would be easy to capture a Spirit user that no one knew existed..."

I cut Anna off before she could continue, "Why did he need Spirit induced rings?" My voice was very quiet, as if someone was listening.

"To get through the wards. When a Strigoi is wearing a Spirit induced ring it basically returns them to who they really are, but not quite. They have the same intentions but they can get through the wards without detection.

"Strigoi keep showing up everywhere because Vladimir has been following you. Every time you get close to finding out the truth he sends his Strigoi buddies to attack but not kill, yet. I don't know why he wanted to keep you alive for so long, but he's been watching you because he fears that you're his biggest enemy; his biggest threat." Anna said fluently. It was almost like she's prepared this.

"Aw, I'm flattered, but why did he want Dimitri a Strigoi?" I asked my voice breaking.

"Isn't it obvious?" Anna whispered, "That was one way to break you, without actually breaking you. Also, it was a good distraction from what was really going on. You were so focused on getting him back or killing him yourself that you neglected the world around you." Anna paused before continuing, "Then he hired the man from the bar to hide Kayla because he didn't think that you would return to the bar once you had already been there. But you did. Obviously with some outside help, I might add."

I nodded my head, not sure whether I should trust this woman. Everything she said did make sense, but could she be trusted? "Just one question. How am I meant to believe a word you say when you died from madness?"

Anna sighed as if expecting this question. "I didn't die because I was crazy...I was murdered by Vladimir."


	17. Chapter 17

**I am so sorry that it took me a long time to update! School started up again and I had a pile of homework! It was so stupid! It was the first week and I had so much homework to do! Anyway! Once again, sorry, and please review!**

**I'm reading a really good story by **_**Girl-on-sunshine**_** it's called **_**Aftermath**_** and it's so good! I recommend that you read it! It's a Vampire Academy fan fiction! You can find it on my profile of Favourite stories! So, yeah! I really suggest you read it! **

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed I really appreciate it! Natashasingh1996! Your stories are awesome and please update soon! Oh, there's another story you should read! Both of hers they are really good! **

**On with the story! Please review! Oh, and this story reached 112 reviews for the last chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed it really means a lot to me! **

Ok, that came as a bit of a shock. Wow. Ok, so, should I believe her?

Anna just disappeared into thin air and I awoke in my cell. I sighed standing up and going to the bars. Looking around, I noticed that something was wrong. But, what? Someone was missing; Lissa, Adrian and Christian were on my left and Dimitri and Eddie on my right. Wait. KAYLA!

"Guys, just a question. Where's Kayla?" I asked ignoring the guardians who were telling me to shut up.

"Didn't they bring her in here with us?" Lissa asked I could hear the worry in her voice.

"I thought so, oh, crap! That's not good! KAYLA?" I yelled at the top of my voice.

I heard footsteps running down the hall to the cells. "What's all this shouting about?" a guardian asked appearing in front of my cell.

"We had a friend around 13? Where is she?" I asked wrapping my hands around the bars.

"I didn't see anyone but you 6 getting placed in here." The guardian replied.

"COME ON! THINK! YOU HAD TO HAVE SEEN HER!" I screamed which earned me a punch in the stomach from the guardians. I fell to the floor with a groan.

"Hey, leave her alone!" Dimitri defended, but the guardians ignored him.

"Please! You have to listen to me!" I exclaimed from the ground, "Something really bad is going to happen and you have to help me stop it! You have to let me out of here!"

"Man, Hathaway, you really are crazy." the guardian said, "I don't know why they're prolonging your execution but they had better hurry up."

As they went to turn around I tried my best to stop them. "Please! You don't understand! Vladimir's back! He's planning an attack on the Royal Court! You can't let innocent people _die!_" I threatened.

"Like you've ever care about innocent people," The guardian told me, "You killed our Queen."

I shook my head vigorously as they left. "I'm one of you! I would _never_ kill a Moroi! They come first! They _always_ have and they _always_ will! When there's an attack on the Court and Moroi die you can blame yourself!" I don't think this helped me much but the anger in my voice seemed to make my point clear to my friends. They didn't ask any questions or ask if they'd heard right, I just knew that they were preparing for a fight; one that would end with many deaths if I couldn't get out of this cell.

**Sorry that it's a little short! But, I really wanted to end it there! But, I will update soon! Please review!**


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm so sorry that it took me so long to update! I've been sick and then school was taking up a lot of my time and then I couldn't find the right way to write this chapter! So, yeah, sorry! I'm not sure whether you guys will like this chapter, but tell me what you think! Please!**

I felt defeated, broken, and alone. Although I could hear the intakes of breaths from my friends I still felt alone. I didn't know when, or if, I was ever going to get out of this cell. I didn't know where Kayla was, but I knew that it wasn't good that she was gone. And I didn't know what was going to happen to my friends. All these things annoyed me. I've never liked not knowing.

Suddenly, a bang sounded from the entryway to the hall. My head snapped in the direction but I didn't see anything. I sighed, wishing at that moment that I had X-ray vision. I wanted to know what was going on. I needed to know whether that sound was the start of the war or the signal of my death sentence. Once again I found myself left without information. Ah!

However, my unspoken questions were answered as I heard footsteps begin the descent down the stairs and the owner of the feet stood right in front of my cell.

Victor Dashkov.

He looked the same. The same stuck up eyes, the same slim figure. The only thing that had changed would be the bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. But, it didn't seem to affect him. He stood tall and proud with a smirk playing on his lips.

"Rosemarie Hathaway, finally the tables have turned and you're the one behind bars." He told me happily.

"What are you doing here?" I snarled back.

"Doing what I've always wanted to do." He countered, "Save the Moroi race."

"Victor, Vladimir has been lying to you! He's not trying to save the Moroi race; he's trying to destroy it!" I told him desperately my eyes pleading with him.

"Vladimir has already told me his plans." Victor stated smugly.

"He has?" I asked sceptically. If Vladimir had already told Victor what he was planning then why was Victor still on Vladimir's side?

"Yes, and his plans will save the Moroi race."

I sighed, of course Vladimir had lied. There was no point in trying to convince Victor otherwise. "What do you want?" I snarled at him.

"Oh, I just came here to revel in all my glory. Seeing you behind bars- along with your friends- was a site that I couldn't pass in seeing." He smirked to himself as he glanced around the prison. I heard Dimitri snarl something at him but other than that, it was quiet.

My heart was beating a million miles an hour. I couldn't think of any way to stop the oncoming war that would break out.

Suddenly, there was a loud clonk and Victor fell to the floor his eyes rolling into his head. Behind where he had been standing, stood Kayla holding a baseball bat. She had a smug smile across her lips as she held up the bat triumphantly.

"Kayla," I heard Lissa sigh, and for the first time in days I could feel what she was feeling. Her relief flooded through me with a bit of my own mixed with it. This was the most positive sign that I'd had in a while. It was the first sign that things would be ok. Little did I know, that it was also a sign of trouble, of hurt, of...pain.


	19. Chapter 19

**I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to update! I've been so busy with school and other activities that I haven't had time! So, here is another chapter! Once again sorry! I know that my excuse is one that is common but it is actually true! Oh, and I'm not good at fight scenes, so, sorry if this chapter's really bad. I'm so sorry guys! Anyway, on with the story!**

"Let's get you guys out of here." Kayla said holding up a set of keys. A smirk was playing along her lips as she stepped forward to Lissa's prison cell first.

Once free, Lissa through her arms around her half sister with Christian and Adrian watching from the sidelines. Kayla then moved on to my cell and then Dimitri's and Eddie's.

I smiled gratefully at Kayla, but soon had to focus on more important matters.

"Where have you been?" Lissa questioned her half sister. I smiled, that was so much like Lissa.

"The Strigoi took me to make more rings." She answered, then turned to me, "The Strigoi have broken in! The war has started!" Her eyes were filled with determination and fear at the same time.

"I guessed as much." I told her, and then focused on my plan. "Lissa, Adrian and Christian, stay here and hide..." Before I could finish my sentence Lissa cut me off.

"No, we're coming, Rose. You need us, and this way we can show the council that Moroi can fight too." She told me, I felt how confident she was on this and- although I was more than unhappy about it- I let her win. No point fighting when there were people up there that needed help. I nodded my head grudgingly.

Up above the cells was chaos. Small fights in between small groups of people were scattered around the grounds and it was easy to see that guardian numbers were quickly dropping. Dead bodies littered the floor around us. I shivered as I recognised some of the faces; most were Moroi. There were heaps of guardians in the Royal Court, but there were more Strigoi, _many_ more.

Without hesitation, Dimitri, Eddie and I jumped into the fray and immediately started fighting. It took Lissa, Adrian and Christian a little longer to join in, which was understandable they weren't used to fighting, they weren't trained for it. Kayla just stood there, shell-shocked.

Ducking, dodging and throwing punches that just missed their mark I was also trying to keep an eye on my Moroi friends. That was my first mistake. I wasn't completely focused on my fight. However, when a Strigoi nearly got a good, well aimed punch into my head, I was completely focused on defeating my Strigoi opponent. That was also a mistake. I wasn't paying attention to Lissa until it was too late.

"Stop!" I heard a loud voice bellow behind me. But, I didn't turn, not even when my opponent stopped, until I was grabbed from behind and forcibly held still. I was turned around to face none other than Vladimir himself holding a fear stricken Lissa by the throat.

My world froze at that moment. Everything was still. I wasn't even sure how I continued breathing, all I could hear was my heart beating loudly in my chest. I slowly looked around at all the other fighters to see that they were all being held back by Strigoi too.

"So, let's hear it, Rose. What'll it be, your life or the life of your precious best friend and fellow Dhampirs and Moroi?"

Immediately I knew what my answer would be. But, I had to make sure he was telling the truth. Taking in a deep breath I asked, "If I surrender, will you leave all these Moroi and Dhampir alone?"

"Rose!" Dimitri yelled from somewhere behind me, "You know he won't! You know his plan, don't do this!"

_I'm sorry, Dimitri, I love you._ I thought to myself without turning around. Looking into Lissa's eyes, I saw the regret and felt her sorrow. "It's you or me, Liss. You come first, you _always_ have and you _always_ will."

This was it, this was my Last Sacrifice. I had to decide between my life, and the life of every other Moroi or Dhampir. There was no decision. I knew the answer before it was even asked. It was what had always been drilled into my head. _They come first._ And, this was the ultimate test. Although there were some times when I'd question it, this was not one of them. This is what I had to do. This was my Last Sacrifice.


End file.
